2014 Champion Tier List - Solo Queue - Patch 4.18 Update

SEASON 4 - PATCH 4.18 SOLO QUEUE TIER LIST

SEASON 4 UPDATE

This List has been updated, and new versions are available via this link

Preface Chatter
Workload finally died down a bit so I'll be updating much more in the upcoming days...hooray! This last patch featured a brand new Sion along with lots of nerfs on the most popular champions on the rift.

While it make take a while for the populace to get used to the fast evolving meta and champion changes, let's jump right into the list!

If you're looking for a more meta based tier list based on popularity, check out the FOTM list via this link!

Patch 4.18 Summary

Nerfs: Kha'Zix, Lucian, Tristana, Viktor, Wukong, Yasuo;

Buffs: Azir, Ezreal, Gangplank;

Tweaks: Sion, Akali;

Updates:

• Removed Sion from mid lane 
• Added Master Yi/Jarvan mid lane
• Oct 16:
• Yasuo moved down to Tier 3
• Tristana moved down to Tier 2, Lucian moved down to Tier 1
• Malzahar moved up in Tier 1
• Oct 17:
• Added Kassadin Top
• Oct 19:
• Moved Lucian back up to God Tier
• Moved Sona to #1 God Tier - Does as much damage as a "damage" support and heals + shields beyond reason. Her early game is a bit nerfed, but her late game is insane with athene's and/or morellonomicon, not to mention how simple she is to play...
• Oct 24:
• Malzahar and Talon moved down slightly
• Nov 4:
• Annie Mid moved up;

Search for a champion:

The Tier List

God Tier [Highest Influence]:
Mid-Lane Gods: Katarina, Ahri
Jungle Gods: Rammus, Amumu, Warwick, Fiddlesticks, Wukong, Jarvan IV, Kha'Zix,
AD Gods: Jinx, Lucian, Corki
Top Lane Gods: Wukong, Fiora, Ryze, Maokai
Support Gods: Sona, Janna, Morgana, Blitzcrank

Tier 1 [Strong/Preferred Choices]:
Mid-Lane: Orianna, Akali, Annie, Malzahar, Swain, Talon, Lux, Zyra, Wukong, Vel'Koz, Brand, Syndra, Galio, Xerath, Anivia, Morgana, Heimerdinger
Jungle: Maokai, Sejuani, Nautilus, Vi, Pantheon
AD Carry: Draven, Miss Fortune, Caitlyn
Top Lane: Rumble, Swain, Warwick, Irelia, Akali, Lulu, Malphite, Jarvan IV, Tryndamere, Gnar, Yorick, Singed, Teemo, Vladimir, Lissandra, Jayce, Riven, Heimerdinger, Pantheon
Support: Leona, Braum, Zyra

Tier 2 [Viable/Balanced Choices]:
Mid-Lane: Ziggs, Zilean, Fizz, Twisted Fate, Diana, Lissandra, Pantheon, Lulu (AP), Karthus, Viktor, Kayle, Karma, Zed, Fiora, Mordekaiser, Vladimir, Teemo, Ryze, Jayce
Jungle: Master Yi, Lee Sin, Skarner, Volibear, Udyr, Xin Zhao, Kayle, Jax, Shaco, Zac, Cho'Gath, Sion, Nocturne, Aatrox, Malphite, Dr. Mundo, Nasus, Tryndamere, Olaf, Trundle, Diana, Zed
AD Carry: Tristana, Kog'Maw, Vayne, Graves, Sivir, Ezreal, Ashe, Varus,
Top Lane: Kennen, Nasus, Darius, Volibear, Alistar, Rengar, Jax, Renekton, Dr. Mundo, Trundle, Aatrox, Udyr, Karma, Garen, Lee Sin, Kha'Zix, Shyvana, Kayle, Cho'gath, Olaf, Gangplank, Xin Zhao, Viktor, Poppy, Quinn, Vi, Zed
Support: Nami, Thresh, Vel'Koz, Alistar, Annie, Lulu, Xerath, Zilean, Karma, Taric, Fiddlesticks, Soraka

Tier 3 [Needs Higher Skill/Knowledge Than Usual]:
Mid-Lane: Kassadin, Master Yi, Kennen, Gragas, Jarvan IV, Veigar, Leblanc, Nidalee (AP), Kha'Zix, Yasuo, Riven, Cho'Gath, Fiddlesticks, Azir, Tristana, Kog'maw, Ezreal (AP), Elise
Jungle: Hecarim, Rengar, Nunu, Evelynn, Leona, Elise, Shyvana, Shen, Malzahar, Yasuo, Fiora, Gragas, Riven, Poppy, Darius, Fizz
AD Carry: Quinn, Twitch, Twisted Fate, Kennen
Top Lane: Shen, Gragas, Nidalee, Master Yi, Zac, Galio, Talon, Kassadin, Elise, Mordekaiser, Sion, Vayne, Yasuo, Nunu
Support: Nautilus, Lux, Gragas, Maokai, Volibear, Nunu, Kayle, Teemo, Malphite, Anivia, Syndra, Veigar, Gangplank

Tier 4 [Low Benefits for Effort Used]:
Mid-Lane: Cassiopeia, Urgot, Soraka, Janna
Jungle: Gangplank, Garen, Blitzcrank
AD Carry: Urgot
Top Lane: Soraka, Urgot
Support: Nidalee, Orianna, Poppy, Elise, Galio, Shen, Yorick, Lissandra, Ashe, Leblanc

Instructions and Caveats:

• Champions in BOLD I will talk about shortly
• Champions UNDERLINED may be over/undervalued, but aren't/haven't played enough for me to make a better judgement.
• Within each tier the champions are strongest from left to right, but within a tier each champion's strength is relatively close. This is especially true for Tiers 2 and 3 where these champions are ALL highly playable and player dependent on how strong they are in-game.
• This tier list takes data from ALL players; however, since the majority of players fall in the first three tiers, the majority of data points will come from there.
• Win Rates are important in analyzing each champion's strength, but are not the end-all criteria for any champion's position.
• The creator of this list is diamond, so there may be some personal bias towards higher tier play on certain champions.

Click Here for a description of the tiers

God Tier: These champions are almost impossible to keep down. If your team doesn't make it a priority to shut down these champions and shut them down hard, even if they lose their lane, lose in CS, and it's their first time playing the champion, they can be a massive nuisance for your team. On the other hand, if they're actually good at the champion...that's when it's time to throw in the towel.

Tier 1: These champions generally do very well regardless, and have some sort of advantage over most other champions. When they do well, their team does well. Even when they don't do well, their team still has a good chance of a comeback victory by utilizing one or more aspects of their late game utility.

Tier 2: This is the Tier of balanced champions where Riot shoots to place their designs. These champions generally do well in their own right, and are very strong picks with a good chance of winning. However, they're not overpowered by any means and do have their weaknesses.

Tier 3: These champions can still do very well, but tend to need a little more snowballing to get rolling. Even if they get an early lead, it's still very possible to turn the tides on them with just a mistake or two. They may also have some weaknesses that can be capitalized on.

Tier 4: These champions are either underpowered or offer less reward than other champions for the same amount of effort. These champions basically start winning from the get-go or get made fun of for the rest of the game. They need gold to do their job correctly, and if they don't get enough of it, they become sandbags for the enemy team to punch. Chances of a comeback with one of these champions feeding on your team is almost none.

Champion Explanations

• Azir [Tier 3 Mid]  - Azir! My second favorite champion design this year! Unfortunately he still seems to need a very high skill cap to use effectively. That being said, I think he's a strong champion that can yield decent results, but playing him at a normal level is still fairly ineffective for solo queue simply because of the coordination required and where he places himself during fights to be effective.
• Braum [Tier 1 Support] - Braum is getting more and more effective as Blitzcrank becomes more and more popular (Thresh was always popular), as he does extremely well against them.
• Fiddlesticks [God Tier Jungle] - Fiddle's making his comeback again, thank Riot for nerfing more assassins, and expect to see a serious spike in his win rate.
• Jinx/ADCs in General [God Tier ADC] - After the nerfs on Lucian and Tristana, Jinx has become extremely powerful in comparison, as has Corki. A few other AD carries are also on the rise, but the rest are fairly balanced at the moment.
• Karthus [Tier 2 Mid] - Although his win rate has spiked somewhat, with a very low play percentage it's hard to say he's that much better. The assassin nerfs definitely helped a ton though.
• Kha'Zix [God Tier Jungle] - Despite nerfs he remains a strong pick.
• Maokai [Tier 1 Jungle] - Still a very strong jungler overall, his carrying power in solo queue in losing games is just somewhat low comparatively speaking as his engage causes his team to lose the defensive buff.
• Master Yi [Tier 3 Mid] - Master Yi is actually very strong mid, as most of the popular champions have some form of dodgable skillshot and his damage output is immense level 6. While it takes more skill and knowledge than normal, his ability to snowball off squishy mid laners is decent considering his sustain and juke power. He also has the added benefit of getting blue buff, which spikes his harass tremendously without having to build any cooldown.
• Nautilus [Tier 1 Jungle] - Nautilus is very strong right now, as he scales hard defensively and more people are building ghostblade over blade of the ruined king. 
• Nunu [Tier 3 Jungle] - I have to admit I may have jumped on the world hype train with Nunu, he's actually not very good in solo queue.
• Rammus [God Tier Jungle] - Rammus' "small" quality of life buffs have shot him above and beyond anything we ever expected, so far that even the sheep have turned their heads up to look.
• Sion [Tier 2 Jungle] - Sion's jungle is surprisingly strong, and as most engages happen mid lane his late game ability is ideal. Meanwhile however, his early game isn't that great, and his pre-6 ganks are a bit lame.
• Sona [God Tier Support] - Sona is incredibly strong right now, and doubly so against Janna, who suddenly shot up in popularity. If you're below platinum and have a choice between Janna and Sona I'd probably pick Sona, but Janna does provide more utility if enemy champions include people like Jarvan or Lee Sin.
• Soraka [Tier 2 Support] - Calm down with the God tier requests, she's better but still not great.
• Syndra [Tier 1 Mid] - Syndra is one of those insanely strong champions that's capped by skill. While she has the ability to beat pretty much anyone and everyone in lane, she also tends to get horribly mauled by players that are "better". I think she has a decent effort-to-benefit ratio right now, but she's really one of those all or nothing champions and has little in the way of coming back from being behind, but tends to get ahead against similar skill players 1v1.
• Vel'koz [Tier 1 Mid] - Vel'koz is very very very strong right now. I'd honestly put him in God tier, but regulars on this tier list know what happened last time I tried that stunt.
• Vi [Tier 1 Jungle] - Vi is still very good, but missing her dash pretty much ends the gank then and there, which can be difficult to land depending on how ready the enemy champion is for it.
• Zilean [Tier 2 Mid]- Zilean's insanely strong in competitive team play, but in solo queue he's lacking a bit of carry ability due to his low range and lack of poke in a 5v5 situation.
• Zyra [Tier 1 Support] - Zyra support does insane amounts of damage with no items. Although she's very skill reliant, depending on how well you can control the bush, she is an incredible asset to almost every team composition.

Disclaimer:

• The purpose of this list is for discussion and to provide a starting point for hero selection.

Agree? Disagree? Comment below!